Thank you for posting this extremely interesting picture; where did you find it?
It is, perhaps, worth noting that during the time this Javan rhinoceros was at London Zoo (1874 –1885) the zoo also exhibited Indian rhino, Sumatran rhino and black rhino.
Probably the only animal collection ever to have four species of rhino simultaneously until recently, when White Oaks Conservation Centre acquired a Sumatran rhino, in addition to the white, black and Indian rhinos.
No zoo has ever exhibited five species of rhinoceros simultaneously.
This would have been impossible, since the last zoo Javan rhino died in Adelaide Zoo in 1907, and the first white rhinos to leave Africa were the pair of Northern white rhinos which Antwerp Zoo acquired in 1950.
(Incidentally, the Adelaide Javan rhino was exhibited as an Indian rhino during its lifetime and was only proved to be a Javan posthumously.)
I've come across this fact before - it's bizarre to think that what is now the most common zoo rhino was such a relatively late arrival to the zoo scene. And that when it did turn up it was in the form of (what is now) by far the less numerous subspecies.
I've come across this fact before - it's bizarre to think that what is now the most common zoo rhino was such a relatively late arrival to the zoo scene. And that when it did turn up it was in the form of (what is now) by far the less numerous subspecies.
I know what you meant, but I have to point out that Northern White Rhinos are definitely NOT the most common zoo rhino.
Actually, I'm surprised that Northern's were the first White's out of Africa, considering how long the southern countries in Africa were occupied by European countries.
